The main news arround here, is a meteor which entered the atmosphere in my city, crossed the whole Spain and ended in the East splited in small pieces. It seemed the meteor was big before splitting. I was outside and saw a an explosion followed by a long firing line along the sky, and going direction to the airport. Shocked and horrified by the events in Egypt, I just thought it could be other plane crash. Fortunately not Santa Klaus sleigh, not Bin Ladden attacking the Christmas star….just a piece of rock. But are we protected enough against these things. It makes me think about a “Deep Impact”. I just made my wish…just in case 🙂
By: Snapper - 8th January 2004 at 22:34
A very astute guess. My calculations only put you out by 3 days. Where do you place it? I get a spot in the Brecon Beacons.
By: TornadoF3 - 8th January 2004 at 11:39
so wen is the next major meteroite bound to hit that weird place called planet earth?
I guess it might come on the 25 of november 2005 at 8:36pm but that is just a guess
By: Domin - 7th January 2004 at 14:51
[i] Look at the moon. the Earth would look much worse if our atmosphere and plate tectonics and sea didn’t wipe away the evidence. [/B]
Too true
By: Arabella-Cox - 6th January 2004 at 23:53
I’ve seen video footage of a meteor taken at an American football game. It entered out atmosphere and was quite a huge ball of fire, but it didn’t hit the ground so it remained a meteor… it just flew into our atmosphere and travelled a distance inside and then left the atmosphere back out into space. Estimates suggested an object the size of a desk.
BTW a Meteorite is something that hits the ground, if you see it in the sky then it is a meteor and if you just see it in space (without having entered our atmosphere or hit the Earth) then it is a meteoroid.
At certain times of the year you will see more meteors than at other times.
Early in the development of satellites some early warning satellites were detecting lots of very powerful (20-100 kiloton) sized explosions in the upper atmosphere. They were later found to be meteors detonating in the upper atmosphere. It happens all the time… The Earth is gaining weight at a rate of several hundred thousand tons a day because of all of the material we are sucking up. Look at the moon. the Earth would look much worse if our atmosphere and plate tectonics and sea didn’t wipe away the evidence. (Earth is a much larger target than the moon and our gravity pulls in more projectiles than the moons does.)
By: Flood - 6th January 2004 at 23:04
Saw a Meteor once… Glosters finest.
Flood.
By: TornadoF3 - 6th January 2004 at 22:07
well thats reasuring.
so how many bigger meteorities have you seen in your time?
By: Hand87_5 - 6th January 2004 at 16:55
Originally posted by Domin
Hi,Just to reassure you that the average size of meteors you see during a meteor shower are the size of a grain of sand. If the shower is a particularly good one you might be getting one meteor of that size every minute.
Bigger meteors that split into fragments and are incredibly bright a typically the size of a small pebble and occur very infrequently. I saw one about a month ago.
Considering that when I am out star gazing of a more typical evening I might see one meteor if i’m lucky.
Larger ones are even rarer and ones big enough to cause a huge catatrophy very rare.
I’d save your worring for more terrestrial events that are likely to cause mass destruction
Regards
Nick
I guess that those were much bigger.
By: Nermal - 6th January 2004 at 13:00
Originally posted by TornadoF3
i hate to tell you this but santa claus does not exist so it could not have been him.
NOOOOO! Does exsist so!:mad: – Nermal
By: TornadoF3 - 6th January 2004 at 12:59
i hate to tell you this but santa claus does not exist so it could not have been him.
as long as it didnt hit the ground and destroy the earth it is not that bad. was it interesting to watch
By: Domin - 6th January 2004 at 12:53
Hi,
Just to reassure you that the average size of meteors you see during a meteor shower are the size of a grain of sand. If the shower is a particularly good one you might be getting one meteor of that size every minute.
Bigger meteors that split into fragments and are incredibly bright a typically the size of a small pebble and occur very infrequently. I saw one about a month ago.
Considering that when I am out star gazing of a more typical evening I might see one meteor if i’m lucky.
Larger ones are even rarer and ones big enough to cause a huge catatrophy very rare.
I’d save your worring for more terrestrial events that are likely to cause mass destruction
Regards
Nick
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January 6, 2004 at 9:45 am